Re-finish dial on heirloom Grandfather Clock

A. Hi. It's not clear what you mean by the brass AND silver color, Kim. But the brass color ought to come back by itself with time; the material turns red and copper colored (probably as some zinc is dissolved) when polished; it should yellow-up or brown-up in time. If there was a very thin layer of silver, though, it won't return by itself. An immersion silvering solution like those described and sourced on our "Silver Plating at Home" FAQ might work though.

Brass can be darkened quickly with liver of sulfur [on eBay or Amazon] , but it's toxic and a bit noxious, and with no experience in this, it may darken (blacken) quicker and more deeply than you want anyway. Good luck.

A. Hi Connie. A bronze cleaner/polish (or probably just a brass polish) ought to fix it. But if it's a truly precious heirloom, it probably should be looked at by a metals conservator.

Regards,

A. Hi again. I'm not personally experienced with finding conservators, but our site's favorite metals conservator, Goran Budija, sometimes suggests "Conservation Online (Cool)", which includes a page just for that at http://www.conservation-us.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator

It's difficult with little knowledge of the clock or its finish to judge whether a polish, lightly applied, will harm its aged patina -- but you are probably right that it's risky. If you want to keep the original finish before the green coloration (assuming it's even still there, which is questionable -- the green came from a reaction of the metal and its patina with the contact cleaner), you might try rubbing on museum wax and hope that the green will rub off with the waxing action. Let us know how you make out; we all hate reading a book only to find the last page missing. Best of luck.

Regards,

Q. A few more thoughts on the clock dial above.

I got the paint removed and used 400 sand paper to freshen the brushed finish. There is very little of the silvery color left, except around the perimeter where it was protected by the bezel.

Some talk has been about using a solution of silver for immersion or electroplating. My concern here is that my experience with true silver is that it will eventually tarnish, which is fine for a glossy finish because it can be brightened with silver polish. This won't do for a brushed finish, or am I wrong. Therefore I was thinking the original plating might be of Tin or Zinc or something else that would not tarnish. Another guess is that I could vacuum deposit aluminum which I understand forms a protective oxide layer which should be very stable behind the glass dial cover. This doesn't strike me as what the original clock would have had. My guess so far is a solution that I've used to plate home etched circuit boards, but I don't know how robust this finish is.